After a seesaw week that spooked stock markets, Italy’s president Thursday gave a green light to a government of populist parties that would put the country in the hands of leaders antagonistic to the European Union, its currency, and unauthorized migrants.

Only days ago, President Sergio Mattarella of Italy rejected a populist government over concerns about a key minister who had suggested he wants to withdraw Italy from the group of countries that use the euro, Europe’s single currency. The chaotic consequences of such a move — even if remote — alarmed many investors and resurrected fears about a possible fracturing of the European Union.

On Thursday evening, the party leaders presented the president with a reshuffled Cabinet that would make it difficult for Mattarella to reject them a second time. The new government still needs to win a confidence vote in Parliament, but at this stage that was a formality.

NEW YORK TIMES